Device for assisting calving in cattle



Oct. 26,1926. 1,604,714

A. NUESCH DEVICE FOR ASSI$TING CALVING IN CATTLE Filed April 29 1925Patented Oct. 26, 1926.

, .A 1,6et714 barren ESTATES earner caries;

ARNOLD nunscrr, or BASEL, SWITZERLAND.

DEVICE FOR ASSISTING CALVING- IN CATTLE.

Application filed April 29, 1925, Serial No. 26,738; and in SwitzerlandMay 17, 1924.

The invention relates to a device for assisting calving in cattle,thatis an apparatus to facilitate normal labour in cattle with a doublepurpose, firstly for the better treatment of the animal and secondly tobe able to applythe necessary pull without requiring two or morepersons. 7

The ordinary means for assisting calving with a normal end position ofthe head 0on sist in fastening cords to the front feet, when thelabour-itself does not suffice or appears to be about to suffice fordropping the calf. One or more persons pull on these cords. Apparatuseshave been constructed so as to increase the pull of these persons, whichis frequently insufficient, by artificial means, which are constructedon the principle of toothed wheel gearing or compound pulleys.

The above mentioned manual pulling and the hitherto known pullingapparatuses have, however, great faults, which are firstly that the pullis only applied to the feet so that the head may not come with them butmay dip back behind the front knees, and so (unknowingly) an abnormalposition is produced by the head and knee joints which makes calvingdifficult. Secondly both with pulling by several persons and moreparticularly with inanimate 'machines, such as toothed winches andpulley devices, all the necessary judgment of the force to be applied islacking and also every possibility of technically correct operation asregards direction, quality and limitation of pulling. The direction ofpulling is correct when it has a slight downward slope, the quality ofpulling when the traction is as far as possible in agreement with thelabour, increasing slowly up to its greatest extent and also slowlyreducing, to repeat this in a similar Way at each recurring effort ofthe cow; the limitation of the pulling is on the one hand keepingquantitatively the force applied within certain limits and on the otherhand keeping this force confined on the calf alone, for when, forexample, four men pull on a calf the cow generally moves from where itis lying until it hangs on its halter chain or rope, the force usedbeing thus very bad for the animal because it is not confined solely tothe calf.

The device for assisting calving according to the invention is designedwith these considerations in View. It consists of a support.

to form an abutment against the rump of the cow and a manually operatedpulllng lever adjustably carried thereon, which is adapted to beattached to the front feet of the calf (or the hind feet in the reverserepresent-ation) and which enables the birthto be assisted at giventimes and with the: tie

sired force by a modulated pull in correct 00- operation with the labourof the cow;

The drawings show by way of example-anembodiment of the invention. aFigure 1' shows it in use. Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of deviceand Figure 3 is a plan view of the support.

A support A which is provided at one end with a fork or, adapted to abutagainst the the rump of the cow, is furnished with cylindrical pins 1)spaced apart and adapted to receive a separate pulling lever D which maybe hooked on one or other of'said pins. The

lever D carries a sleeve or collar dradjustably fastened to it, to whichlatter, as seen in Figure 1, the cords 0 to be fastened to the frontfeet of the calf are attached, as well as cords j g to which areattached eye hooks f of a de-' sign suitable for the anatomicalconditions.

By means of this apparatus the person assisting the calving, who holdswith one hand a the support A against the rump of the cow and with theother hand operates the lever.

D, can apply a uniform pull on the head and feet at the desired moment;and with any desired variable force and thus can assist the ordinarylabour of the cow itself in the mostsatisfactory way. In this way asingle person is suflicient for operating the apparatus, who canapplythe necessary force by means of the lever D. By adjusting thesleeve d on the lever D which can be fixed thereon by a set screw 2',the leverage can be altered as desired. 1

Further, as the apparatus abuts against the rump of the cow, the pull isonly efiected on the calf, whilst without the abutting support A thetension would be distributed to the calf and the cow. This feature alsocon-V from those hitherto known in that they are suited to theanatomical conditions as they abut against the lachrymal bone and, inthe further operation, against the upper jaw bone and nose bone, so thatthe tension causes no inclination of the head and noin'jury to the calf.Their connection to the lever D on sures simultaneous pulling on thefront feet and the head so that head obstruction causing difficult birthis avoided.

What I claim is:

1. A device for assisting calving in cattle, comprising a supportarranged to form an abutment against the rump of the cow, a manuallyoperated rocking lever mounted thereon, means to' allow said lever to betransferred from one place to another on saidsupport and pulling meansconnected to said lever and arranged to be attached to the extremitiesof the calf, so as to allow of as sistingthe labour by means of amodulated pull in correctly timed and measured cooperation therewith.

2. A device for assisting'oalving in cattle, comprising a supportarranged to form an abutment against the rump of the cow, a manuallyoperated rocking lever thereon, a plurality of spaced pins along saidsupport, hooking means on said lever to allow same to be transferredfrom one to another of said pins, and pullingmeans'connected to saidlever and arranged to be attached to the extremities of the calf, so asto allow of assisting the labour by means of a modulated pull incorrectly timed and measured cooperation therewith.

3. A device for assistingcalving in cattle, comprising a supportarranged toform an abutment against the rump of the cow,

a manually operated rocking lever thereon, means to allow said lever tobe transferred from one place to another on said support, an adjustablemember on said lever, pulling means connected to said adjustable memberand arranged to be attache-d to the extremities of the"calf,'so as toallow of assisting the labour by means of a modulated pull in correctlytimed and measurer cooperation therewith.

4. A device for assisting calving in cattle, comprising a supportarranged to form an abutment against the rump of the cow, a manuallyoperated rocking lever thereon, means to allow said lever to betransferred from one place to another on said support and pulling meansconnected to said lever and arranged to be attached to the eXtremi-,

ties of the calf, eye hooks and pulling means connected to said lever,so as to allow of' assisting the labour by means of a modulated pullonboth the extremities and the head in correctly timed and measuredcooperation therewith.

5. A device for assisting calving in cattle, comprising a supportarranged to formv an abutment against the rump of the cow, a manuallyoperated rocking lever thereon, means to allow said lever to betransferred from one place to another on said support, an adjustablemember on said lever, pulling means connected to said adjustable memberand arranged to beattached to the extremities of the calf, eye hooksandpulling means also connected to said adjust-able member, so

I as to allow of assisting the-labour by means of a modulated pull onboth the extremities and the head in correctly timed and measuredcooperation therewith.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name this 16th day ofApril, 1925.

ARNOLD NUESGH

